Introduction
Materialism refers to how an individual decides on expending their property, especially their money and their time. With regards to individuality priority is given to the compilation of material goods. Religion on the other hand refers to faith with special powers, mainly god/gods. It normally entails submission, adoration and also worship. It forms an aspect of a living system that defines living rules aiming at realizing spiritual and material enhancement. Materialism is a viewpoint that is prevailing in consumer culture. The word materialism has a deep-seated etymology. Russell Belk delineates materialism as the magnitude a customer attaches to worldly chattels (Belk, 2010). At the utmost materialism levels, possessions takes a fundamental place in an individual’s life and are deemed to offer the greatest supplies of contentment and discontentment. Materialism deals just with the social worth of material possessions.
Role of materialism and religion in the spread of global consumption
Influence on lifestyle
Both religion and materialism influence an individual’s lifestyle, they specify the concept they hold of global consumer culture in-respect to particular possessions in question. Materialists go-through greater discontentment with their living standards than non-materialists, which in-turn brim-over to overall life bring about discontentment with life generally. Materialists experience discontent because they set living standard goals that are exaggerated and idealistically high (Harrington, 2001). These goals which they set are mainly influenced by the emotional-based expectations. Having to live a less materialistic way of life does not necessarily mean becoming a parson and refraining from all of pleasures/joys of life. It means shifting your focus away from possessions so they become less important by comparison.
Ending materialism does not mean neglecting all of your possessions. Materialism influences people’s lifestyle and how they carry themselves. A person who has developed a strong inner world sees possessions to be neutral (Geissel, 2010). This swing is more about an individual’s attitude than their precise actions. Religion also influences lifestyle; it comes with beliefs and set rules that change how an individual lives their lives. For instance some religions belief in not eating some types of food especially meat and this changes how an individual lives. They can not eat or behave in a certain manner because their religion goes against those deeds.
Influence on consumption
Consumption is influenced in the sense that both facets influence people’s lifestyle and as a result influencing the consumption made. Religion is a significant cultural factor to examine since it is one of the most widespread and dominant social institution that has considerable influence on individuals’ outlooks, principles and behaviors at both the personal and social levels (Fine, 2002). When a person’s lifestyle is influenced either negatively or positively, consumption is also influenced. Materialism and consumption plays a major part when it comes to the spread of global consumption.
How materialism and religion help the spread of a global consumption culture
Materialism
Encourages spending; materialism has an effect on how an individual makes a choice especially when it comes to spending their possessions while stressing the need of hunting for other different material goods. Basically, an individual is encouraged to search for wealth and riches, worldly possessions and also luxuries which in-turn influences their culture. Whenever an individual is materialistic, they will go out of their way to make sure they get want they want, particularly worldly pleasures such as money and wealth. The central quality of consumer culture is the relation between people and their material possessions.
Generally, consumer culture is a societal arrangement where the buying and selling of possessions and services is not merely a principal activity of each day life but also a significant style-guru of societal organization, importance, and meaning. This means that being materialistic helps in the spreading of global consumption culture. Lifestyle; Materialism furthers the formation of a lifestyle where the consumption is endorsed in regards to possessions that help in building an individuals’ status in-respect to riches, commodities and luxury. Materialism influences an individual’s lifestyle and how they conduct themselves (Geissel, 2010).
Individuals who are materialistic spend to earn. Materials influence the culture of consumption with the viewpoints that earning can only be made via spending. Materialists spend their possessions to gain more and this helps in spreading the global consumption culture. The manner in which people relate with their possessions affects both their manner of spending and earning. Materialists are spend-thrift and they have exaggerated goals when it comes to acquiring worldly possessions.
Religion
Religion encourages specific consumption; religion is based on devotion to spirituality while it influences an individual’s way of living (Fine, 2002). Religion encourages consumption through influencing the consumption of particular possessions that are believed to have spiritual significance when it comes to a specific religion. Spirituality; religion is significantly based-on spirituality where an individual’s life is examined to be constitute aspect that makes their ones spirituality. As-such, religion endorses consumption but with principles of spirituality that are being upheld therefore it encourages spiritually based consumption. Religions are man-made and cumulative. Religion doesn’t subsist in isolation, nor does human’ religious behavior transpires in isolation (Geissel, 2010).
The societal interaction occurring, enable people to form the standards and rules which tie them collectively in a group. Norms that receive religious support or consecration have special power, particularly for the person or the group who actually follow spiritual doctrines. To ensure contentment through consumption a person is incessantly engaged in altering their interaction setting. In the present day society, consumer culture is like “choosing self”. Possessions are bought as an expression and a mark of lifestyle, status, lavishness and power. The consumption prototype of individuals is extremely intricate in the modern society where they construct demarcation (class) rooted in what they consume instead of the predetermined essentials of stratification and by development of specific lifestyle (Mooij, 2010).
How materialism and religion hinder the spread of a global consumption culture
Materialism
Materialism influences a wastrel culture; Materialism is perceived to be an influential factor when it comes to an individual being a squanderer (Chua, 2003). This is rooted in the fact that it influences the hunting for wealth, possessions and lavishness which influences a wastrel attitude. People begin to look for new possessions and new enjoyments because they are interesting; they seek to engage in new playoffs, try new items, discover new material-objects, and discover new tastes in individualized consumer culture (Mooij, 2010). People consign importance to older items if they do not flout their enjoyment and ideals. Basically, a consumer society thinks and behaves different from an agrarian one and even a contemporary society (Gottdiener, 2000).
To spend time to go for shopping has turn out to be third, after the time spent when an individual is at home and at their place of work. Treating consumption as a lifestyle, people frequently interact with standardized groups forming related mentalities and confronting analogous problems (Lury, 2011). Lifestyle; materialism is seen to create a standard of living that is partially rooted in consumption influence by the existence of riches and possession. With the current tendencies in economic sequence, this kind of a lifestyle is not found to be ideal by many people. High concerns are placed on saving income and so global consumption culture is discouraged.
Religion
Impure consumption; religion is basically based on loyalty towards particular laws which are deemed to be godly and so there are worldly possessions are considered to be unclean. This belief discourages the consumption of those kinds of commodities and as a result holding back the enlargement of a consumption culture (Belk, 2010). There are very many things that are believed to be impure by believers of certain religions and so even if other people consume those things or possessions they can not by any mean do the same; this belief thus hinders global consumption culture. This shows that each and every religion has a number of commodities that are believed to be unclean according to that religion’s teachings. Consumption of those commodities is discouraged hence hindering the formation of a global consumption culture (Belk, 2007).
Many religions have their different moral values which they uphold. These religions support morality virtues and so consumption of various possessions according to their religious view-points, they are perceived to be morally wrong and so they depress their consumption. Morality virtues held in different religions hinders the spread of global consumption culture. Worldly possessions that give people fulfillment and pleasure are not considered by many religions to be pure; they bring about immorality that is discouraged among believers of specific spiritual doctrines (Jan, 2006). These religion beliefs hold back people from engaging in such materialistic contentment and as a result hindering the spread of consumption culture. People who follow these religion doctrines separate themselves from those possessions because they believe that they make one impure and morally wrong.
Devotion to divine provision; religions hinder the spread of consumption culture because it stipulates its faith on phenomenal powers (Benjamin, 2008). Many religions believe that god is the sole-provider of people’s needs. This notion influences people to place their hopes on these phenomenal powers instead of building the consumption power. Many of these believers do not strive to acquire wealthy and worldly possessions; they depend on these supernatural powers to provide whatever they need (Dan, 2006). They are not materialistic and they are very keen when it comes to the wealth they possess. They are contented with what they have and they are just concerned about their spiritual doctrines and how they can improve their religious way of living. This belief hinders the spread of global consumption culture.
Attitude; in religion the expansion of a consumption culture in seen to be an obstruction of an individual’s attitude in the view of the fact that it influences self-praise hence making one to lose their focus on the religion teachings (Gary, 2000). It is viewed to build a situation in which an individual amasses extol for oneself through displaying their strength and that of material possession. Materialists always draw attention to themselves because they have wealth and money and they praise themselves for acquiring so much wealth. Believers of certain religious doctrines believe that everything they have is given to them by god and so they praise god instead of themselves (Ritzer, 2005).
They think that exalting oneself is wrong because all glory belongs to their sole provider. Consumption to them corrupts their attitudes and so they inhibit the creation of a consumption culture. They believe all they have belong to their sole provider and they should not praise themselves for acquiring it (Elizabeth, 2001). They are not materialist because they believe that they sole provider gives them whatever they need at a specific time and so they do not hunt for possessions. They also believe that some worldly possessions affect ones’ spiritual life and so they are not important. They make one forget about their spiritual calling and focus on worldly things. This attitude hinders consumption culture from spreading (Farrell, 2003)
Material possession; religion depicts material possession to be something that corrupts an individual’s spirituality. Many religions advise their believers not to hunt for health in expense of their spirituality. They believe that so much wealth can distract a person from their spiritual ways. In their teachings they mostly focus on heavenly issues rather than worldly pleasures; they do not give wealth and riches so much importance (Gorski, 2001). They believe that too much wealth destructs the minds of their believers thus losing their spirituality to the worldly pleasures. Various religions deem that Material possession should not go beyond their spiritual teachings; they are worldly pleasures that will come to end and so they should not be of much importance. Believers should aim at improving their spiritual life rather than searching for wealth and other worldly possessions. Regarding this matter, consumption culture creation is hindered because individuals fail to hunt for material possessions.
References
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